Styles Of Business Letter

Let me introduce what's is Styles Of Business Letter, in last post i've explained meaning of Business Letter. And meaning of style was like kind, variety, sort, manner, type, and etc was something heard like that.  Talk about it, let us flash back about basic business format letter. see image below this.

 there are 7 styles of business letter, it was :

1. Fully-Indented Style

This letter has used the fully indented style. The recipient’s name and address and the paragraphs of the body of the letter are indented five spaces. In few cases more spaces are used. The typists will decide the space level. The subject of the letter is types just 2 lines below the salutations at the center. The difference between 2 paragraphs will be 2 lines. The complimentary closing is typed at the center 2 lines just below the body of the letter. The signature is written five line-spaces below the complimentary closing. Although this style looks beautiful, this style is not widely used these days. Because typing a letter in this style requires many keyboard strokes, this style is avoided.

2. Semi-Indented Style

This style is quite different from the fully-indented style. In this style, the recipient’s address is not indented. The recipient’s address is typed flushed on the left-hand side of the letter. The signature is also not indented. This style is also not used widely these days. Since the companies want to get their letters types in very short time, they started using computer generated methods. As fully-indented style, this style also takes more time to type the letters. So, the typists themselves started to avoid these styles.

3. Hanging-Indented Style

This very useful style places the first words of each paragraph prominently on the page. It is useful for letters that deal with a variety of different topics. However, for normal business communications, this style is very rarely used. The first line of the paragraph begins at the left-hand margin. And the other lines of the same paragraph are indented three to four spaces. This is the reversal of semi-indented style discussed in other page.

4. Fully-Blocked Style

This style is widely used across the globe. This style does not use any indent at all. Every single line is typed from the left-hand side. Since this style demands less number of keystrokes, this style increases the speed of the typist. Even for computer typing, this style is more convenient. Note that this style does not use comma after every line in the address. This is also reducing the number keystrokes required. But the proper punctuations are added properly.

5. Modified Block Style

This style is similar to the fully-blocked style. It differs in the positioning of few items. The date is typed on the right-hand side of the page rather than the left-hand side of the page as followed in the fully-blocked style. The subject of the letter and the signature and the name and the designation of the sender are centered. These modifications give the letter a balanced appearance. However this is not the only way to modify the fully blocked style. You may want to place other items in different places.

6. Simplified Style

This is another modification of the fully-blocked style. This style is used when you write a letter and you do not know the name and title of the person to whom you are writing the letter. The salutation and the complimentary closing are used in this style. The subject is mentioned din capital fonts and that subject need not be underlined. Today around all the business houses, this style is widely used when the writer of the letters does not want to give importance to formality. Since the formality is not adopted here, this style goes to the heart of the addressee. This style give more importance only to the core matter of the letter.

7. Memorandum

The memorandum (or memo) is primarily used as an inter-office letter. That means memorandum is used to send letters from one person to another who are working in the same company. This adopts, sometimes, business letter style. At the top left-side of the memo, the sender’s name, the recipient’s name, the date and the subject matter are mentioned.

Reference 1

Reference 2

Business Letter

Business Letter

Business letter is a letter used by people or entities that conduct business activities such as trade, industry, and business services. For example, mail order, mail penwaran and others. In general, the letter will be directed to a specific person and be about one topic. Sometimes, the business letter will be looking for a response, but might be to give important information about an up-coming change of address or telephone number. The letter might give information about new developments - a new website; launch of a new product. To allow the sender to handle any response more efficiently, the business letter might contain key information such as an internal reference from the sender or related to the product in question.

Layout Of English business Letter

In the picture above is the layout that exist in business english letter. From the picture above, the following section is an explanation of the part that is the English business letter

1. Letter Head 

On the letter head which serves to provide the information from which the letter contained a letter to the reader. If the letter comes from a particular agency, then the agency will tecantum origin of the name include the address, of the information readers can contact or reply to the sender of the letter along with the address that matches the address of the sender.

Sample Letter Head for an agency:

2. Date 

Pada bagian date untuk menampilkan keterangan tanggal, bulan, serta tahun surat tersebut.

Contoh :

14 September 2005

- American style

Untuk penulisan tanggal dalam bahasa gaya Amerika pada tanggal dan tahun menggunakan angka dan pada bulan boleh menggunakan huruf dengan menempatkan penulisan bulan, tanggal, dan tahun.

Contoh :

14 September 2005

14-9-05

- British style

Untuk penulisan tanggal dalam bahasa gaya British sama dengan penulisan tanggal dalam bahasa Indonesia, yaitu tanggal, bulan dan tahun pada penulisan tanggal dalam bahasa gaya British ditambahkan akhiran bilangan pada tanggal seperti 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th.

Contoh :

14th September, 2005

3. Enclosure 

Pada bagian enclosure jika surat lebih di cantumkan dari satu lembar. Agar bertujuan untuk memastikan para pembaca mengetahui berapa lembar surat yang untuk dibaca sebagai contoh pada surat tersebut tercantum sebuah lampiran atau tidak.

Contoh :

Enclosure: Purchase Order 8080

4. Subject

Pada bagian subject berisi untuk memberitahukan perihal dari tujuan surat dari pembuat surat kepada pembaca surat.

Contoh :

Subject: Order No 332

5. Inside Address

Pada bagian inside address berisi tentang informasi berupa nama, alamat, kode pos dan kepada siapa surat tersebut akan di kirim.

Contoh :

Mr. Skotjanvic 12 Victoria Street Manchaster MN6 GREAT BRITAIN

6. Salutation

Pada bagian salutation berisi salam penghormatan kepada pembaca surat.

Contoh :

Dear Mr Skotjanovic

- British style

Untuk penulisan tanggal dalam bahasa gaya British pembuat tidak diijinkan untuk menggunakan tanda baca apapun pada penulisan salam, kecuali menggunakan tanda baca koma.

Contoh :

Dear Mr Skotjanovic,

- American style

Untuk penulisan dalam bahasa gaya Amerika pembuat tidak diijinkan menggunakan tanda baca apapun pada penulisan salam, kecuali menggunakan tanda baca titik dua.

Contoh :

Dear Mr Skotjanovic:

7. Body Of The Letter

Pada bagian body of the letter merupakan isi dari surat yang terbagi dalam beberapa paragraf berupa tujuan dari pengirim kepada penerima surat. Paragraf pertama yang berisikan tentang pernyataan sopan santun, kemudian paragraf selanjutnya menerangkan ke dalam pembahasan utama, lalu berisikan informasi latar belakang secara detail dari pembuat surat, paragraf penutup menjelaskan apa dari isi dari semua paragraf untuk penerima untuk memstikan agar tujuan dari surat tersebut sesuai dengan apa yang di utarakan.

Contoh :

8. Complementary Close

Pada bagian compelmentary close berisi ucapan salam penutup kepada pembaca surat.

Contoh :

Yours Sincerely,

- American style

Untuk penulisan dalam bahasa gaya Amerika disesuaikan atau sama dengan tanda baca pada salutation. Jika tanda baca koma (,) pada akhir nama pada salutation, maka complementary close juga memakai tanda baca koma (,)

Contoh :

Yours Sincerely,

- British style

Untuk penulisan dalam bahasa gaya British Pada penulisannya apakah nama penerima surat pada salutation dicantumkan atau tidak. Untuk memakai nama penerima surat pada Salam Pembuka, maka salam penutupnya contohnya (Yours sincerely) atau (Sincerely yours). Jika tidak maka nama penerima pada Salam Pembuka, yaitu Salam Penutupnya contohnya (Yours faithfully) atau (Faithfully yours).

9. Signature

Pada bagian signature merupakan tanda tangan dari pembuat surat agar surat tersebut resmi untuk dibuat kepada penerima.

Contoh :

10. Carbon Copy Notation

Menginformasikan bahwa surat tersebut di kirim lebih dari satu tujuan kepada penerima yang terkait.

Contoh :

cc : The Supervisor

11. Postcript

Digunakan untuk mempermudah pemeriksaan kembali jika pemeriksaan tersebut diperlukan. Lalu merupakan catatan singkat bagian bawah kiri dibawah tembusan (jika ada). Inisial ditempatkan di sebelah kiri. Contoh penulisannya yaitu P.S  

Form And Style Of English Business English Letter

Full Block Business Letter

Dalam format fullblock business letter seluruh teks terletak di bagian kiri. Dan juga semua bagian suratnya terletak pada rata kiri.

Semiblock Business Letter

Dalam format semiblock business letter seluruh teks berada di bagian kiri lalu pada setiap awal paragraf diberikan satu spasi. Kemudian bentuk paragraph sama dengan bentuk Indented style. Dari semua bagian surat yang diketik berbentuk lurus. Kecuali pada isi surat. Setiap alinea diketik sesudah lima ketukan dari margin kiri. Alinea yang satu dengan alinea lainnya tidak diberi jarak pada semiblock business letter.

Modified Block Business Letter

Pada format modified block business letter letak teks berada di bagian kiri, untuk alamat penulis, tanggal, dan penutup , signature terletak pada di bagian kanan.

Indented style

Bentuknya hampir sama dengan penulisan surat pada umumnya namun pada bagian tertentu bentuknya agak bervariasi. Bentuk suratnya dari indented style ke dalam bertekuk atau bergigi. Penulisan alamat pada indented style tidak sejajar terletak di sebelah kiri atas. Posisi tanda tangan disebelah kanan. Inside address biasanya ditulis setelah tanggal dan sebelum reference yang terletak di sebelah kiri atas.

Hanging style

sama seperti semi block style, namun hanya berbeda penulisan setiap paragraf pada isinya. Pada semi block style, isi dari setiap paragraf pada baris pertama agak sedikit masuk ke dalam. Sedangkan pada hanging style berlawanan dengan semi block style pada penulisan paragrafnya.

A Note About Format and Font

Block Format

When writing business letters, you must pay special attention to the format and font used. The most common layout of a business letter is known as block format. Using this format, the entire letter is left justified and single spaced except for a double space between paragraphs.

Modified Block

Another widely utilized format is known as modified block format. In this type, the body of the letter and the sender's and recipient's addresses are left justified and single-spaced. However, for the date and closing, tab to the center point and begin to type.

Semi-Block

The final, and least used, style is semi-block. It is much like the modified block style except that each paragraph is indented instead of left justified.

Keep in mind that different organizations have different format requirements for their professional communication. While the examples provided by the OWL contain common elements for the basic business letter (genre expectations), the format of your business letter may need to be flexible to reflect variables like letterheads and templates. Our examples are merely guides.

If your computer is equipped with Microsoft Office 2000, the Letter Wizard can be used to take much of the guesswork out of formatting business letters. To access the Letter Wizard, click on the Tools menu and then choose Letter Wizard. The Wizard will present the three styles mentioned here and input the date, sender address and recipient address into the selected format. Letter Wizard should only be used if you have a basic understand of how to write a business letter. Its templates are not applicable in every setting. Therefore, you should consult a  business writing handbook if you have any questions or doubt the accuracy of the Letter Wizard.

Font

Another important factor in the readability of a letter is the font. The generally accepted font is Times New Roman, size 12, although other fonts such as Arial may be used. When choosing a font, always consider your audience. If you are writing to a conservative company, you may want to use Times New Roman. However, if you are writing to a more liberal company, you have a little more freedom when choosing fonts.

Punctuation

Punctuation after the salutation and closing - use a colon (:) after the salutation (never a comma) and a comma (,) after the closing. In some circumstances, you may also use a less common format, known as open punctuation. For this style, punctuation is excluded after the salutation and the closing.

Business letter example :

Letter No. 123/OC/EA/X/2011

OFFERING COOPERATE

======================================================================================================

JAYA MEBELINDO, PT

Jl. Pemuda No 312 Semarang

Central Java

Tel: 024-5642100

November 4th 2011

The Vice President, 

Overseas Purchase Dept.,

DOBO Garden Center

Hillview Ave.,

New York, U.S.A

Dear Sir,

We thank you for your interest with my furniture products which shown in your email dated October 28th 2011.

We have a vast variety of garden furniture and we can undertake making furnitures of your good choice with you company brand.

We earnestly feel that it shall be good for both the companies if you or any authorised person from your  Purchase Dept visit our factory for an on-the-spot assessment. 

We shall be glad to receive him to view our products and production method. This will enable him to order appropriately.

Yours faithfully,

Ginanjar 

Overseas Manager 

Reference 1

Reference 2

Reference 3

Reference 4